30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

[Marshy]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I felt much more focused this morning - and wanted to carry on when the bell went!

If anyone needs a timer, try this
Online Stopwatch
Hit the red "countdown" arrow, then key in "60" (for 60 seconds) and press set, and then press start when you're ready.
It took me longer to figure out how that worked than it did to do the meditation :H

[Marshy]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I like these minutes of quiet each morning. And I like that so far it's the same thing over again - I'm starting to get into a routine with it.

Yesterday morning (before work) I became very aware of how tense my body was when I was sitting still for a minute. This morning (not going to work), I'm aware of how much more relaxed I am.
That's not something I ever think about because I never just sit and focus like this. Good stuff!

Anyone else doing it?

[Tabbers (a.k.a. KTAB)]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I am going to try it guys. Ok stop laughing at the back

[startingover]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

KTAB;832834 wrote: I am going to try it guys. Ok stop laughing at the back

:H

[DeeBee]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

Good on you KTAB!
I'm ashamed to say I've missed out on Day 3 due to no other reason other than laziness!!

[dancelot]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

This is great - since it's only one minute, I can do it! One time in a riding clinic, the trainer suggested I try meditation to improve my focus. Well, I tried, but going by the book I got you were supposed to do 10 or 15 minutes. That didn't work out as planned. I can barely sit still anyway, and sure as heck can't "empty my mind" for 15 minutes! It actually increased my restlessness instead of quieting it.

Now this..... the last two days, my regular trainer was in town, and I have ridden maybe 3 times in the last 4 months, but decided to ride anyway. I used this method (keeping my eyes open of course), just focused on my breathing, and had two really great productive lessons!

The only mistake I made doing this was on the second day forgetting to set the timer, and thinking (eventually) this was the longest minute I've ever spent..... :H

[Rags]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

Hi DeeBee,
I've just copied it onto a word document and will show my monk on Wednesday.
By the way, Mr Rags and I are going to Africa in Sept this year for a 4 week camping trip then 3 days in Capetown before flying back to OZ. Looking forward to it.
Hey Dance, I reckon this will be perfect for you (and me). How about not setting the timer more often?

[DeeBee]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

Hiya Rags.
I'm so ashamed to report how AL has stolen my meditation time.
P.s. Your holiday sounds awesome!! Would love to meet you if you have the time.

[Marshy]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I really like today's reading.

One-Moment Meditation Day 19 - The Embrace of the Moment - Oprah.com

There's a lot of talk these days about "being in the moment," "living in the now" or "going with the flow." Much of this talk implies that life should just be a perpetual party...that the moment is just about the upside of life. Today I'll show you how the moment actually embraces everything?both the highs and the lows?and how deeply peaceful that can be.

Personally, when I'm having a hard day and someone tells me to lighten up and go with the flow, I just get grumpier. I figure they have no interest in my flow?they just want me to go with their flow. They are probably not thinking about the big flow in which their flow and my flow both flow together.

I get particularly annoyed when I hear people tell others to "live in the moment" as a kind of criticism. The implication is that if you are not feeling positive all the time, you are somehow not spiritual enough.

This is a very limited view of the moment. It's positively lopsided, because the moment includes everything that is happening now. The moment is simply what it is?not what you want it to be. If some of what is happening in the moment appears to be negative, or terribly sad...well, that is what's happening.

If you try to hide from what is happening, then you are not in this moment...you are shrinking from it. If you try to live in a bubble of positivity or "peacefulness," then you have to work very hard to keep the sharp pricks of pain away. You have to work hard to avoid things or people that might burst that bubble.

This avoidance is much more stressful than the alternative?simply accepting what is happening, even if you don't like it. Avoiding what is happening doesn't give you a very secure kind of peacefulness. Running around all the time and being afraid that other people's problems will get you down just isn't very peaceful.

When you are truly in the moment, you experience a peacefulness that can embrace the whole range of experience. No longer preoccupied with how you want life to be, or even who you are, you settle into an acceptance of what is. You are not pulling or pushing at this moment, and you are not trying to make it different than it is. This peacefulness can embrace problems when they appear, because they are part of this moment too.

If you're wondering how "in the moment" you are, just do this quick self-check: Notice how open your heart is. When your heart is open, you are able to embrace whatever is happening. This doesn't mean you have to like what is happening?it just means you are not closing yourself off from what is happening. You aren't separating from what is happening, and you are certainly not recoiling from it.

When your heart is open, whatever is happening right now touches you, because it is a part of you, and you are a part of it. That's not to say you are overwhelmed by it. It's just that you are able to be with it, because denying it would be denying you. From your place of peacefulness, you might even be able to lend a helping hand.

If you really want to transform stress, your heart is the engine of that transformation. A soft, open heart does not resist the awareness of suffering. It offers every single thing in the universe a loving home.
Today, before you meditate, take a moment to open your heart to the world. Your heart is big enough to embrace whatever is happening now.

[DeeBee]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

Thank you Marshy, it was good for me to read that today.

[Marshy]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I'm catching up on a few days readings. Here's one about overcoming cravings:

One-Moment Meditation Day 25 - Beyond Craving - Find Freedom from Compulsion - Oprah.com

How can you find the strength to resist temptation? How can you get a handle on addiction? How can you get control of your cravings? Today you'll learn how One-Moment Meditation can help you get a grip on whatever's got you hooked.

There are so many temptations these days?temptations to eat, drink, smoke, buy, borrow and believe. One market research firm estimated that each person living in a city sees 5,000 ads each day, more than twice that seen 30 years ago.

These ads, of course, are not designed to appeal to your higher, nobler self; they are deliberately targeted to hook your weaknesses, fears and vulnerabilities. There are so many attractive images, clever phrases, enticing smells and amazing deals around us that just walking down the street requires some serious resistance training.

One of the biggest challenges in resisting temptation is simply noticing that you do have a choice. This is where One-Moment Meditation can help. I don't want to minimize the role of genetics in addiction, nor the fact so many products are designed to make you need more of them, but I do believe you have a choice. And as the amount of external temptation gets greater, and our needs and wants are increasingly manipulated, you need to increase your awareness of that choice.

Here's my suggestion. As soon as you notice a craving, just do a moment of meditation. In other words, turn each craving into a little reminder to do a moment of meditation. There's no need to do a long meditation here?just a moment will do. It might go something like this: Gosh, I'd love a piece of cake?meditate. Wow, it's been such a hard day, I really need a drink?meditate. Hey, look at that great deal on a new car?meditate.

This is not about self-discipline, which can make you feel like a failure; or "being good," which can make you feel bad. I just want you to give yourself a tiny little nonjudgmental moment in between your impulse and your action.

Once you've found and experienced this gap, and maybe even enjoyed a little break from your craving, you might be able to make some new choices, or at least give yourself some other options. You could distract yourself. You could call your sponsor. You could click on something else. You could at least question whether you really want that supersize sundae.

Each time you create a gap in your mental chatter, and each time you give yourself a break from all the external voices, you create a space in which a deeper part of yourself can be known.

Yes, there is a healthier, stronger "you" in there; and this healthier, stronger you is much more able to resist temptation than is the ordinary, overwhelmed you.

You may not be very familiar with this you yet. This you may never have been welcomed or respected. No one may even have told you that this you exists. Or maybe you have had glimmers of this you?in those moments when you have felt most empowered and confident and present. But I believe this you is always around, just waiting for an opportunity to be seen and heard, and will emerge quite naturally when you make some room for it.

This healthier, stronger you desires only those things that bring you greater health and happiness. This healthier, stronger you makes choices that are good for you. This healthier, stronger you actually enjoys doing those things.

This healthier, stronger you also has a natural resistance to what other people want you to think or feel or taste or do or buy or believe, because this healthier, stronger you is just so much more aware of you. This you knows what you really want and what really works for you. This you has only your best interests at heart.

And this you just doesn't take the bait.


Martin Boroson is a playful, practical new voice in the next wave of meditation teachers. Author of One-Moment Meditation: Stillness for People on the Go, he lectures on the benefits of a meditative mind for decision-making and leadership. Marty studied philosophy at Yale, earned an MBA from the Yale School of Management and is a formal student of Zen. Visit his website for One-Moment Meditation? help and resources, tweet him at @takeamoment or find him on Facebook.

[AMELIA]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

Hey Marshy,
Just had a look at the link. Looks like interesting stuff.
Have added it to my favourites.
Thank you.

[techie]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

I've checked this out as well and it looks good. I think I'll try the lotus position tomorrow morning!!!

[techie]

30 Days with One-Moment Meditation®

OH Behave, it works!!!